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X-Fi and the Elite Pro: SoundBlaster's Return to Greatness

 by Derek Wilson on August 30, 2005 11:59 AM EST
110 Comments | Add A Comment
110 Comments

Introduction

Ever since the SoundBlaster AWE 64, we have been waiting for a Creative Labs product that lives up to the SoundBlaster legend. The bar was set very high with the pre-PCI generation of SoundBlaster products and Creative became the de facto standard in PC sound. The Live! and Audigy product lines didn't bring about the same revolution in sound for which Creative was known. Rather than advancing by leaps and bounds, the industry has slowly and steadily been creeping forward over most of the last decade.

With the launch and availability of the new SoundBlaster X-Fi line of cards, we could again see a discrete step in performance and quality that puts this new technology head and shoulders above its predecessors. Aside from the usual incremental moves forward, X-Fi includes a new architecture for sound hardware (which Creative calls an Audio Ring Architecture), high quality sample rate conversion (SRC), a very powerful DSP, and the option of including 64MB of RAM on the sound card itself. Putting all this together gives us a card that offers the highest quality and performance in consumer audio with today's software, and the potential for even more quality and performance should developers choose to take advantage of the power offered.

The SoundBlaster X-Fi Elite Pro is the best non-pro sound solution for audio listening, features and recording. In addition, the potential for higher quality and performance for sound in games is unique to the upper class of the X-Fi line. The downside, and our biggest concern about the product, is price and value. Is the top of the line worth the $400 premium? We hope very much that this article on X-Fi technology and the SoundBlaster X-Fi Elite Pro will answer that question.

The X-Fi Audio Ring: Powerful and Flexible
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  • Reflex - Wednesday, August 31, 2005 - link

    Derek, please read the following http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/audio/uaa.msp...">article on Universal Audio Architecture. Between that and Intel's HD Audio spec, all the supposed benefits of the X-Fi driver architecture are achieved already, and in a standard fashion that other sound card manufacturers can follow. There is nothing unique about what Creative is offering, only the marketing surrounding it, and in fact its been on the market since Intel's HD Audio first came out.

    Multiple source/multiple channel audio is definatly a major application in the future, but Creative is not the company leading the charge on this, only following suit.

    Once again I feel that your article in its present state serves as an advertisement rather than an objective analysis. I am certain that was not the intention, however due to the lack of research it came out that way anyways.

  • HardwareD00d - Wednesday, August 31, 2005 - link

    Thanks for your post. I was thinking I'd upgrade from my Audigy2 to an X-Fi, but now I think I'll pass.

  • PenGun - Tuesday, August 30, 2005 - link

    Could not have put it better, thanks.

    PenGun

  • monsoon - Tuesday, August 30, 2005 - link

    guys, i'm looking for an HTPC config with dual-core AMD where i can use the opticl drive without turning on the PC...

    ...i know, seems a bit out of context; but if this card or any lesser ( ? ) can be used in such context, what product would you recommend ?

    i like the HP DEC form factor, but i'll take anything proven worthy WITH AMD DUAL CORE and and an optical drive independent from PC.

    thanks for feedback,
    cordially,
    a.

  • Calin - Wednesday, August 31, 2005 - link

    The ASUS boards have the capability to play audio CDs from BIOS (I remember something like that, I don't have the ASUS board/manual to check). Maybe if you start the CD it will play while your computer is stopped?

  • whymeintrouble - Tuesday, August 30, 2005 - link

    I believe HP has a media center pc that can run a dvd drive, but not need to be in windows to use it. I don't know if it has the option of the Dual Core X2s though.

    I want to see a few more reviews go up before I make my judgements on these cards.

  • RussG - Tuesday, August 30, 2005 - link

    This still won't make myself, and a lot of people, upgrade from onboard sound. What I would like to see is more comparisons of how this is going to affect my FPS in more then 1 game, and how it stacks up to common on board solutions. They bring out all of this marketing because realities are not many people care about sound greater then onboard, and with no game support or evidence of existing game improvement there is little reason to pick this up.

  • NeonFlak - Tuesday, August 30, 2005 - link

    I bought the $130 X-Fi last night at bestbuy. I haven't seen this mentioned anywhere but compared to all my other sound cards, including onboard sound, when listening to MP3s or any other sound format it is very muffled unless the crystalizer is turned on. But, just as the review says the crystalizer doesn't really work well with everything.

    Games sound fine though. I haven't tested any movies since I don't watch movies on my pc.

  • DerekWilson - Tuesday, August 30, 2005 - link

    Are you sure you don't have CMSS-3D turned on? I find that sound can get very muffled and muddied when playing music using CMSS-3D ... That could be your problem.

    Our experience is that the sound quality with no filtering is better on the X-Fi than most other solutions. Of course, we do still need to look at the XtremeMusic card.

  • knitecrow - Tuesday, August 30, 2005 - link

    Ok, SoundBlaster is the only game when it comes to games... but what about listening to music or watching DVDs?

    Does it sound any better than my $30 chaintech VIA ENVY24 card or M-audio Revolution? I would like to see some blind listening tests.

    You have many many software based solutions that claim to make mp3s and other lossy formats sound better, for example SRS WOW effects that come bundled with Windows Media Player or Qsound. Is the creative crystallizer any better when compared to such software solutions?

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